PCI DSS Contract Job Trends

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring PCI DSS skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 10 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 496 356 370
Rank change year-on-year -140 +14 +37
Contract jobs citing PCI DSS 172 200 206
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.32% 0.60% 0.53%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 1.88% 3.54% 3.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 112 115 143
10th Percentile £402 £367 £414
25th Percentile £450 £460 £486
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £531 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -3.41% - -12.00%
75th Percentile £628 £700 £668
90th Percentile £699 £850 £762
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £515 £555
% change year-on-year +1.94% -7.21% -11.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 3 1
Median hourly rate £22.42 £31.49 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -28.80% -37.02% -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.42 £31.49 £50.00
% change year-on-year -28.80% -37.02% -

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK

PCI DSS falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 9,157 5,644 5,251
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.17% 17.02% 13.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,875 3,631 3,258
10th Percentile £329 £281 £290
25th Percentile £413 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £505
Median % change year-on-year - -0.99% -3.81%
75th Percentile £600 £606 £625
90th Percentile £700 £716 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £475 £475
% change year-on-year +4.21% - -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 559 260 315
10th Percentile £14.00 £13.59 £11.22
25th Percentile £18.56 £17.43 £14.49
Median hourly rate £39.00 £27.59 £26.56
Median % change year-on-year +41.38% +3.86% -32.93%
75th Percentile £70.00 £60.00 £55.00
90th Percentile £80.38 £85.30 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £24.66 £25.77
% change year-on-year +62.21% -4.29% -27.93%

PCI DSS
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing PCI DSS relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

PCI DSS job vacancy trend in the UK

PCI DSS
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing PCI DSS.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing PCI DSS

PCI DSS
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing PCI DSS over the 6 months to 10 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for PCI DSS in the UK

PCI DSS
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing PCI DSS.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing PCI DSS

PCI DSS
Top 15 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing PCI DSS within the UK over the 6 months to 10 August 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England -106 158 £525 -2.33% 152
UK excluding London -96 80 £525 +1.94% 65
London -75 79 £550 - 94
Work from Home -66 46 £569 +1.16% 77
North of England -59 29 £577 +20.66% 20
South East -68 18 £398 -38.85% 12
North West -42 16 £571 +9.70% 15
Midlands -43 16 £500 -16.67% 12
Yorkshire -39 13 £663 +47.22% 5
West Midlands -50 11 £540 -10.00% 8
East of England -28 7 £495 +98.40% 1
South West -40 7 £475 -7.77% 14
East Midlands - 5 £402 - 4
Northern Ireland - 2 - - 2
Scotland -13 1 £483 -4.36% 3

PCI DSS
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 8 (4.65%) Confluence
2 6 (3.49%) IIS
3 3 (1.74%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (1.74%) SharePoint
4 2 (1.16%) OpenStack
5 1 (0.58%) CMS
Applications
1 7 (4.07%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (1.16%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (1.16%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.58%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 5 (2.91%) Payment Gateway
2 3 (1.74%) BASE24
3 2 (1.16%) Oracle ERP
4 1 (0.58%) Actimize
4 1 (0.58%) VisionPLUS
Cloud Services
1 76 (44.19%) AWS
2 73 (42.44%) Azure
3 30 (17.44%) GCP
4 14 (8.14%) Serverless
5 13 (7.56%) Azure Sentinel
5 13 (7.56%) Microsoft 365
6 12 (6.98%) SaaS
7 10 (5.81%) AWS CloudFormation
7 10 (5.81%) GitHub
8 9 (5.23%) Microsoft Purview
9 8 (4.65%) OCI
10 7 (4.07%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 7 (4.07%) Apple Pay
10 7 (4.07%) Entra ID
11 6 (3.49%) GitHub Actions
12 5 (2.91%) Azure DevOps
12 5 (2.91%) Azure Key Vault
12 5 (2.91%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 4 (2.33%) AWS KMS
14 3 (1.74%) Google Pay
Communications & Networking
1 29 (16.86%) Network Security
2 25 (14.53%) Firewall
3 10 (5.81%) HTTP
4 7 (4.07%) Wi-Fi
5 6 (3.49%) HTTPS
6 5 (2.91%) WAN
7 4 (2.33%) Intrusion Detection
7 4 (2.33%) SD-WAN
7 4 (2.33%) TCP/IP
8 3 (1.74%) NGFW
8 3 (1.74%) Wireless
9 2 (1.16%) BGP
9 2 (1.16%) DNS
9 2 (1.16%) IPsec
9 2 (1.16%) MPLS
9 2 (1.16%) SMS
9 2 (1.16%) VLAN
9 2 (1.16%) VPN
9 2 (1.16%) Wireshark
9 2 (1.16%) X.509
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (3.49%) Data Lake
2 3 (1.74%) Amazon RDS
2 3 (1.74%) Data Warehouse
2 3 (1.74%) NonStop SQL
2 3 (1.74%) Power BI
3 2 (1.16%) Amazon Aurora
3 2 (1.16%) Amazon Redshift
3 2 (1.16%) Big Data
3 2 (1.16%) Data Vault
3 2 (1.16%) Metadata
3 2 (1.16%) MySQL
3 2 (1.16%) NoSQL
3 2 (1.16%) PostgreSQL
4 1 (0.58%) BigQuery
4 1 (0.58%) Oracle Reports
4 1 (0.58%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 12 (6.98%) JIRA
2 9 (5.23%) GitLab
2 9 (5.23%) Jenkins
3 8 (4.65%) Git
4 4 (2.33%) Gradle
4 4 (2.33%) Jaeger
5 3 (1.74%) Burp Suite
6 2 (1.16%) Metasploit
7 1 (0.58%) Codeception
General
1 61 (35.47%) Social Skills
2 45 (26.16%) Finance
3 19 (11.05%) Analytical Skills
4 16 (9.30%) Public Sector
4 16 (9.30%) Retail
5 13 (7.56%) Banking
6 8 (4.65%) Legal
7 6 (3.49%) Local Government
8 5 (2.91%) Pharmaceutical
9 4 (2.33%) Documentation Skills
10 3 (1.74%) Influencing Skills
10 3 (1.74%) Social Housing
10 3 (1.74%) Telecoms
11 2 (1.16%) Marketing
11 2 (1.16%) Organisational Skills
11 2 (1.16%) Presentation Skills
12 1 (0.58%) Billing
12 1 (0.58%) Corporate Banking
12 1 (0.58%) Health Technology
12 1 (0.58%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 42 (24.42%) Architect
2 29 (16.86%) Consultant
3 24 (13.95%) Security Consultant
4 20 (11.63%) Security Architect
5 16 (9.30%) Security Engineer
6 12 (6.98%) Cloud Architect
6 12 (6.98%) Solutions Architect
7 9 (5.23%) Cybersecurity Consultant
7 9 (5.23%) Developer
7 9 (5.23%) Security Manager
8 8 (4.65%) AWS Architect
8 8 (4.65%) Cybersecurity Architect
8 8 (4.65%) Cybersecurity Manager
8 8 (4.65%) Project Manager
9 7 (4.07%) Senior
10 6 (3.49%) Compliance Officer
10 6 (3.49%) Lead
10 6 (3.49%) Risk Officer
11 5 (2.91%) AWS Infrastructure Architect
11 5 (2.91%) Cloud Infrastructure Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (8.72%) REST
2 9 (5.23%) RESTful
3 6 (3.49%) .NET
4 5 (2.91%) OAuth
4 5 (2.91%) OpenTelemetry
4 5 (2.91%) Spring Boot
5 4 (2.33%) Loki
5 4 (2.33%) SAML
6 3 (1.74%) 802.1X
6 3 (1.74%) HTML
6 3 (1.74%) Middleware
6 3 (1.74%) Node.js
7 2 (1.16%) AWS CDK
7 2 (1.16%) Elastic Stack
7 2 (1.16%) JSON
7 2 (1.16%) OpenID
7 2 (1.16%) Spring
8 1 (0.58%) GraphQL
8 1 (0.58%) Micronaut
8 1 (0.58%) Next.js
Miscellaneous
1 22 (12.79%) Cloud Native
2 18 (10.47%) Security Posture
3 13 (7.56%) Management Information System
4 12 (6.98%) Hybrid Cloud
4 12 (6.98%) Private Cloud
5 10 (5.81%) Onboarding
6 9 (5.23%) Product Ownership
7 7 (4.07%) BYOD
8 6 (3.49%) EMV
9 5 (2.91%) AI Agents
9 5 (2.91%) Distributed Systems
9 5 (2.91%) Legacy Systems
10 4 (2.33%) CESG
10 4 (2.33%) Cyber Defence
10 4 (2.33%) Cyber Threat
10 4 (2.33%) Data Centre
10 4 (2.33%) Mobile App
10 4 (2.33%) Security Operations Centre
10 4 (2.33%) Self-Motivation
11 3 (1.74%) Algorithms
Operating Systems
1 23 (13.37%) Windows
2 14 (8.14%) Linux
3 3 (1.74%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 3 (1.74%) Unix
3 3 (1.74%) Windows Server
4 2 (1.16%) Android
4 2 (1.16%) Ubuntu
4 2 (1.16%) VMS
5 1 (0.58%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.58%) CentOS
5 1 (0.58%) CoreOS
5 1 (0.58%) Mac OS
5 1 (0.58%) Windows 10
5 1 (0.58%) Windows Server 2008
5 1 (0.58%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 70 (40.70%) Cybersecurity
2 52 (30.23%) Cloud Security
3 46 (26.74%) Information Security
4 43 (25.00%) CI/CD
5 42 (24.42%) Agile
5 42 (24.42%) Incident Response
6 38 (22.09%) Containerisation
6 38 (22.09%) DevOps
7 33 (19.19%) Infrastructure as Code
7 33 (19.19%) SIEM
8 32 (18.60%) Risk Management
8 32 (18.60%) Threat Modelling
9 31 (18.02%) Roadmaps
10 28 (16.28%) Security Architecture
11 26 (15.12%) Stakeholder Management
12 25 (14.53%) Microservices
13 24 (13.95%) DevSecOps
13 24 (13.95%) Security Operations
14 23 (13.37%) Cryptography
14 23 (13.37%) Security Testing
Programming Languages
1 25 (14.53%) Python
2 18 (10.47%) Java
3 17 (9.88%) PowerShell
4 16 (9.30%) Bash
5 12 (6.98%) SQL
6 6 (3.49%) Go
6 6 (3.49%) JavaScript
7 5 (2.91%) Kusto Query Language
8 4 (2.33%) Search Processing Language
9 3 (1.74%) Kotlin
10 2 (1.16%) Bicep
10 2 (1.16%) C++
10 2 (1.16%) Korn
10 2 (1.16%) Perl
10 2 (1.16%) Ruby
11 1 (0.58%) C
11 1 (0.58%) PHP
Qualifications
1 51 (29.65%) CISSP
2 32 (18.60%) CISM
3 26 (15.12%) Degree
4 22 (12.79%) Cisco Certification
5 18 (10.47%) (ISC)2 CCSP
6 16 (9.30%) CEH
7 15 (8.72%) OSCP
8 12 (6.98%) Security Cleared
9 11 (6.40%) CCSP
9 11 (6.40%) CISA
10 8 (4.65%) SC Cleared
11 7 (4.07%) CRISC
12 6 (3.49%) AWS Certification
13 5 (2.91%) PMI Certification
13 5 (2.91%) PMP
14 4 (2.33%) CompTIA Security+
14 4 (2.33%) GCFA
14 4 (2.33%) GCIH
15 3 (1.74%) CREST Certified
15 3 (1.74%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 77 (44.77%) GDPR
2 72 (41.86%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 68 (39.53%) NIST
4 23 (13.37%) GRC
5 19 (11.05%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 18 (10.47%) Cyber Essentials
7 15 (8.72%) COBIT
8 13 (7.56%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 12 (6.98%) HIPAA
9 12 (6.98%) SOC 2
10 8 (4.65%) QA
11 7 (4.07%) NCSC
11 7 (4.07%) NIST 800
12 6 (3.49%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
13 4 (2.33%) SLA
14 3 (1.74%) Actionable Recommendations
14 3 (1.74%) PMO
14 3 (1.74%) PSD2
15 2 (1.16%) ISO 31000
15 2 (1.16%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 9 (5.23%) Active Directory
2 5 (2.91%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (2.33%) Docker
4 3 (1.74%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (1.16%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.58%) Ceph
6 1 (0.58%) Firmware
6 1 (0.58%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 24 (13.95%) Kubernetes
2 23 (13.37%) Terraform
3 11 (6.40%) Ansible
4 8 (4.65%) CASB
5 7 (4.07%) Grafana
6 6 (3.49%) Prometheus
7 4 (2.33%) Istio
7 4 (2.33%) Progress Chef
7 4 (2.33%) Rancher
8 2 (1.16%) Microsoft Intune
8 2 (1.16%) Nmap
8 2 (1.16%) Single Sign-On
9 1 (0.58%) AirWatch
9 1 (0.58%) Argo
9 1 (0.58%) FortiGate
9 1 (0.58%) HP Fortify
9 1 (0.58%) QRadar
Vendors
1 34 (19.77%) Microsoft
2 12 (6.98%) Splunk
3 9 (5.23%) Google
4 7 (4.07%) ServiceNow
5 5 (2.91%) Cisco
5 5 (2.91%) Salesforce
5 5 (2.91%) VMware
6 4 (2.33%) Apple
6 4 (2.33%) Cribl.io
6 4 (2.33%) Oracle
6 4 (2.33%) Rapid7
7 3 (1.74%) CrowdStrike
7 3 (1.74%) Fortinet
7 3 (1.74%) Tenable
8 2 (1.16%) Klarna
8 2 (1.16%) Meraki
8 2 (1.16%) Palo Alto
8 2 (1.16%) PayPal
8 2 (1.16%) Qualys
8 2 (1.16%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud